[Mattias]

Look at these pictures: http://www.dailysoccer.com/news/picture/done/20000511/mdf92482.html

and
http://www.dailysoccer.com/news/picture/done/20000511/mdf92486.html

I don't want to say that I think that what Lazio fans did today outside FIGC was a good thing, but what the hell is wrong with the police !?

FORZALAZIO !!
http://Laziomania.socceralliance.com

 

[Boyo]

It's sad this turned violent, the Italian police overreacted!!
I hope the protest at curva nord on sunday will be peaceful.

 

[AMOROSO!]

The police ALWAYS overreacts.Everywhere in the world the same thinga happen.Only Corea is an exeption,there they beat up the policemen.

If it was a peaceful protest,blame the police,if not blame them both.Anyway,you have to make something intense when you protest.

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The sun will rise again...and it will be...GIALLOBLU!

 

[AMOROSO!]

If this nazy crap is true,I would pleasanlty hit some of these fasist pigs as well.

However,I find it hard to believe that all the fans made these fasist remarks.

------------------
The sun will rise again...and it will be...GIALLOBLU!

 

[Glen]

If You want the full story.

Reuters article in full:
-------------------------------------------
By Gideon Long
ROME, May 11 (Reuters)(DS) - Italian police fired tear gas at Lazio supporters staging a protest on Thursday against a refereeing decision wich fans claim has ruined the club's chances of winning the league title.
At least three people were injured and police detained a handful of about 1,000 supporters outside the headquarters of
the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) in central Rome. One fan's coat caught fire after he was hit by a tear gas cannister.
The protest was against a decision by referee Massimo De Santis in Sunday's Serie A match between league leaders Juventus
and Parma.
De Santis disallowed a late header from Parma's Fabio Cannavaro which would have levelled the match at 1-1 with only
seconds to play. Television replays suggested the goal shouldhave stood.
If it had, Lazio, who won 3-2 at Bologna on the same afternoon, would have drawn level with Juventus at the top of the league with one round to play.
As it is, Juventus remain two points clear and can win the title if they win at Perugia in their final match, regardless of how Lazio fare in their home tie against Reggina.
If Juve draw and Lazio win, the championship will be decided in a play-off between the two sides.
The protest started peacefully as Lazio fans unfurled a series of huge banners scrawled on lengths of wallpaper.
"Juventus fans -- history repeats itself -- the more you steal, the more you win," read one.
Another banner berated De Santis and Juve's hawkish general manager Luciano Moggi, who has brushed off the outcry over the referee's decision and suggested Lazio are simply bad losers.
"De Santis, champion of Italy," it read ironically.
One man stood in front of the FIGC headquarters wearing a full length sandwich board covered in mock obituary notices.
"May 7, 2000, football died, killed by a referee who is a lackey of Juventus," the notices read.

NAZI SALUTE
As the protest continued it became more tense. Every so often, someone from the crowd would throw an orange, a beer can or a bottle at the bank of policemen guarding
the FIGC building.
Many Lazio fans, notorious in Italy for their far-right sympathies, sang fascist anthems and gave the Nazi salute.
When the police finally edged forward in a tentative effort to disperse the crowd, they were hit by a barrage of oranges.
Police then charged protesters and fired tear gas at body height forcing fans, reporters and several passers-by to escape
down side streets.
By 4:30 p.m. (1430 GMT), three hours after the protest began, order had been largely restored but groups of disgruntled fans still marched down streets surrounding the FIGC building as police helicopters circled overhead.
De Santis' decision has caused uproar in Italy, where Juventus, 25 times Italian champions, have long been both
admired and hated for their success.
Many fans feel Juve are given an easy ride by referees and some allege this is because the club is run by the Agnelli family, which owns the Fiat automobile empire and is
arguably the most powerful clan in Italy.
Lazio , owned by food company magnate Sergio
Cragnotti, have won the league title just once, in 1974.
They lost out to AC Milan by a single point on the final day
of last season's Serie A title race.
--------------------------------------------

Ciao.




[This message has been edited by Glen (edited 12-05-2000).]

 

[blackeagle]

yes i saw the incidents ! But if i were a policeman over there i would try to do my job! I am a Lazio fan and i would try to stop them kindly !
I am sure those policemen are Juve or Roma fans that They can easily hit Lazio fans !
Isn't that obvious?
Because Policemen are human and they support football teams like us !

 

[Glen]

Italian policemen frequently overstep their boundaries (remember Italy-England ?), and to some extend I agree (how could they shoot teargrenades at that height ?), but You also have to remember that the Police among harmless fruit had bottles thrown at them, and at some point they would have to react to the hostile crowd.
Your thesis that the Policemen were all Roma/Juve fans is a little weird considering that the demonstraton took place in Rome.
I suppose it's illogical that there would be more Juve fans among the Roman Policeforce than Laziofans isn't it ?
Can You at least leave us out of that one ?

Ciao.

 

[oltre-la-morte]

What good have protests ever really done? . . . Great symbolic gestures full of sound and fury signifying absolutely nothing!!!!!! . . . if the fans want to see a change, they will have to sacrifice that which they love to prove their point. They must boycott the game and the league until something is done to satisfy their anger and bring vindication. Only this will work and this is really a depressing fact.

The police are doing their job. How would you react to getting hit with bottles and garbage?

[This message has been edited by oltre-la-morte (edited 12-05-2000).]

 

[Lazindo01]

Right Amoroso, like in Seattle last December when we protess about WTO, we did nothing, but the police just like son of ***** , keeping hit and hit us, even my friends had to be operated in his nose.
They feel so god damn powerful and think (and torture) people like animals......

By the way, is that 9the police) are juve fans?

 

[DeBoer]

Thats what they were doing. They were throwing bottles at the fascist police!
Or wich fascists were you referring to?

 

[ScottishTony]

As I have said on numerous occasions: you have to stand in the Curva Nord to realise how truly fascist it is.

SCOTTISHTONY

 

[Boyo]

And how often have you stood at Curva Nord, Scottish Tony??

 

[Reale]

Sorry guys,but this time I'm with
GLI IRRIDUCIBILI!!!!!!!!!
All we're good is at critiscizing!
At least they had the guts to something!!!!

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SEMPRE E SOLO FORZA LAZIO

 

[Glen]

Reale; You are definately an amazing character. The demonstration itself is all fair and well, but how can You actually condone bottle throwing and Nazi salutes ?

How can that be branded "having guts" ?

In my opinion that qualifies as violent aggression.

Oltre-la-morte; I completely agree with You.
I'm glad YOU have the guts to go against some of Your most irrational fellow fans (this is not hinted at Lazio fans in general- You all know who I mean).
The demonstration in my opinion helped create a debate about the future actions FIGC should take to restore serie A's credibility.
The violent thug reactions only distance Lazio's fans and thus the reputation of the team from Lega Calcio, and the people in charge there.
Had they made a thoroughly peacefull demonstration they would have won widespread sympathy- now it's a scandal instead.
And Lazio definately didn't deserve that on top of the wrong De Santis call.

Ciao.

[This message has been edited by Glen (edited 12-05-2000).]

 

[ScottishTony]

Probably around 70-80 times:

Every League game 96-99

Most Coppa Italia games 96-99

All European Campaigns 96-99

Although I sometimes went into the Tribuna Tevere and never used my Curva Nord season ticket as friends could never get tickets in
the Curva Nord stand.

Until recently you could get into the Curva with a Distincti ticket. I was at Lazio-Valencia and this is no longer the case.

SCOTTISHTONY

 

[Boyo]

Lets not jump to conclusions, Glen. The reputation of Lazio is not just based on a small group of extremists.

Besides, this was a public protest... anyone walking on the street could have joined the group. And you know how these kinds of protests attract idiots who join in just to cause trouble!!

I won't deny that there are hardcore supporters who do have extremists views, but they can be found in all walks of life and not just amongst Lazio supporters.

As I said before I think it was good to protest, but it was sad this turned violent. Some protesters overreacted, but also the police overreacted. So they can't just blame the Lazio supporters.

 

[Boyo]

To Scottish Tony: Okay, pretty good... 70 to 80 times, thats more than me. But hey, with a name like yours I thought maybe you had just been there once or twice, when on holiday or something.

If you've been there that many times you have every right to make your claim, and as I wrote in my post to Glen I won't deny there are extremists amongst the audience. But this does not apply to EVERYONE at curva nord!! And it does not ONLY apply to curva nord!! I have been in a lot of stadiums and, sadly, in most of them there has been a small group of MORONS shouting extremists remarks.

 

[Reale]

Glen,we all know there is a small group
that are rascist,fascist,however you want to call them.That doesn't mean that the protest was violent!(a couple of my friends were there(maybe Cecco!) and they told me that it was exactly the opposite!
A couple of eggs,a couple of oranges(and that's it) flew around,is that all it take for the police to react and attack?

P.S.a university student that was sent there to catch the protest was thrown to the ground and beaten by the bastards,plus many others who just gathered around to take a peek at what was going on!!

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SEMPRE E SOLO FORZA LAZIO

 

[Glen]

Guys; I said more than once that making the protest was not at all a bad thing. Read back will You.

I'm also aware that it's only a fraction of Lazio's fans who are to blaim for these extremist views. I never intended to hint at anything else.
I only reacted against to those of You (Blackeagle and Reale) who in my opinion downsized the violent element in this incident.

Whether it was actually violent is not for me to say adamantly as I wasn't there, but generally Reuter is a reliable source, so when they write that the police was hit by a barrage of throwing items when they tried to dispatch the demonstration I can only believe that until I hear contradictory reports.
If they completely overstated it, that obviously makes the Police brutality stand out as even more wrong, but I suppose (as always) that the truth is somewhere between those claims.

Reale; I might have misunderstood You, but You mentioned guts. I don't think protesting peacefully takes that much guts. It was a passionate gesture by loyal fans, but I felt You were hinting at the fact that some people didn't fear to confront the authorities to make a point.
A point that completely removed focus of the topic in question, put the spotlight of the fascist fraction that exists and futhermore caused innocent people to suffer from the insuing violence.
That has nothing to due with guts, and that was the point I was trying to make.
Don't jump on me because I associated the name of Lazio with something bad. I'm sure both You, Boyo and everybody else can agree with me that the "fans" from the fascist fraction are morons, and that it's a shame that Lazio has to endure the bad press and fines You're getting as a consequence of their behaviour. Right ?
Nothing wrong with the demonstration- I just thought You made some idiots in the crowd stand out as valiant warriors, while I think they're criminal, narrowminded thugs.

Ciao.

 

[Natalya]

The pictures that Mattias linked so the extreme lengths that the police went to, to end the protest...that kind of reaction was not necessary...as for the Nazi thing, I hate it went people link Lazio with this people. I personally don't think that the Italian FA or the clubs are doing as much as they could to kick racism out of football, to coin a phrase used here in England...it is interesting to see what the fans who see Lazio regularly think! Because it is easy for me to comment here from England.